Shaped rice products and processes for preparing them have been described in the prior art. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,295, a procedure is disclosed for making a shaped rice product having an interior that generally has a homogeneous consistency texture and a relatively hard exterior "crust". In U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,087, a procedure is described for cooking and starch complexing rice in the preparation of shaped rice products.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,390, a process is described for preparing a shaped rice product that is ideal for microwave oven preparation. In that product the rice grains, which may be dispersed together with other grains and food pieces in flavoring amounts, have centers that are not fully cooked and hydrated. These grain centers become fully cooked and fully hydrated when the product is reheated in the microwave oven, which has unique reheating characteristics. A microwave oven can cook the frozen rice grains in the center of the frozen units at the same time that it cooks the product's crust. In fact, the microwave oven reheating technique simultaneously provides sufficient heat and energy to properly fully cook and fully hydrate all the rice grain centers at all the locations in the product.
Although the shaped rice products with not fully cooked grains are ideal for the microwave oven, they are not entirely suitable for other applications. For example, they cannot be prepared in a toaster because the conduction heating pattern provided by toasters causes the centers of the frozen rice grains to become warm but not hot enough for the sufficient length of time required to fully cook and gelatinize the centers of the rice grains before the product's outer surface is burned. Therefore, it is necessary in some cases to control the cooking step of the process such that the grains reach a fully cooked and hydrated state before they are shaped.
Casseroles are usually a combination of food ingredients that are oven-baked in a baking dish. It is typically desirable to make casseroles by combining a variety of different ingredients. For example, casseroles may be made with vegetables, pasta, rice and other grains. However, these casseroles are usually served spooned out of the baking dish, and then eaten with a fork. It would be useful if a grain product were available which offered the variety and appeal of a casserole, yet was in the form of a free-standing unit which can be picked up and hand-held while being consumed.